Ranging and tracking system for proximity operations, phase 1

A study task is reported which is directed towards developing a conceptual design of a small, lightweight range and range rate radar sensor system to meet NASA's requirements for accurate short-range and velocity measurements in an orbital environment. Within the context of the requirements, the short range implies system operation at 0 m to 1850 m (6000 ft) and accurate implies a range measurement to within 1 sigma accuracy of 0.20 m (0.67 ft) and a range rate (velocity) measurement to within 1 sigma accuracy of 0.01 m/sec (0.033 ft/sec)

Shuttle Global Positioning (GPS) System design study

Investigations of certain aspects and problems of the shuttle global positioning system GPS, are presented. Included are: test philosophy and test outline; development of a phase slope specification for the shuttle GPS antenna; an investigation of the shuttle jamming vulnerability; and an expression for the GPS signal to noise density ratio for the thermal protection system

Metformin reverses development of pulmonary hypertension via aromatase inhibition

Females are more susceptible to pulmonary arterial hypertension than males, although the reasons remain unclear. The hypoglycemic drug, metformin, is reported to have multiple actions, including the inhibition of aromatase and stimulation of AMP-activated protein kinase. Inhibition of aromatase using anastrazole is protective in experimental pulmonary hypertension but whether metformin attenuates pulmonary hypertension through this mechanism remains unknown. We investigated whether metformin affected aromatase activity and if it could reduce the development of pulmonary hypertension in the sugen 5416/hypoxic rat model. We also investigated its influence on proliferation in human pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells. Metformin reversed right ventricular systolic pressure, right ventricular hypertrophy, and decreased pulmonary vascular remodeling in the rat. Furthermore, metformin increased rat lung AMP-activated protein kinase signaling, decreased lung and circulating estrogen levels, levels of aromatase, the estrogen metabolizing enzyme; cytochrome P450 1B1 and its transcription factor; the aryl hydrocarbon receptor. In human pulmonary arterial smooth muscle cells, metformin decreased proliferation and decreased estrogen synthesis by decreasing aromatase activity through the PII promoter site of Cyp19a1. Thus, we report for the first time that metformin can reverse pulmonary hypertension through inhibition of aromatase and estrogen synthesis in a manner likely to be mediated by AMP-activated protein kinase

Shuttle Global Positioning System (GPS) design study

The effects of oscillator noise on Shuttle Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver performance, GPS navigation system self-test, GPS ground transmitter design to augment shuttle navigation, the effect of ionospheric delay modelling on GPS receiver design, and GPS receiver tracking of Shuttle transient maneuvers were investigated

Shuttle Global Positioning System (GPS) system design study

The various integration problems in the Shuttle GPS system were investigated. The analysis of the Shuttle GPS link was studied. A preamplifier was designed since the Shuttle GPS antennas must be located remotely from the receiver. Several GPS receiver architecture trade-offs were discussed. The Shuttle RF harmonics and intermode that fall within the GPS receiver bandwidth were analyzed. The GPS PN code acquisition was examined. Since the receiver clock strongly affects both GPS carrier and code acquisition performance, a clock model was developed

Investigation and evaluation of shuttle/GPS navigation system

Iterative procedures were used to analyze the performance of two preliminary shuttle/GPS navigation system configurations: an early OFT experimental system and a more sophisticated system which consolidates several separate navigation functions thus permitting net cost savings from decreased shuttle avionics weight and power consumption, and from reduced ground data processing. The GPS system can provide on-orbit navigation accuracy an order of magnitude better than the baseline system, with very adequate link margins. The worst-case link margin is 4.3 dB. This link margin accounts for shuttle RF circuit losses which were minimized under the constraints of program schedule and environmental limitations. Implicit in the link analyses are the location trade-offs for preamplifiers and antennas

Dynamical stability of a doubly quantized vortex in a three-dimensional condensate

The Bogoliubov equations are solved for a three-dimensional Bose-Einstein condensate containing a doubly quantized vortex, trapped in a harmonic potential. Complex frequencies, signifying dynamical instability, are found for certain ranges of parameter values. The existence of alternating windows of stability and instability, respectively, is explained qualitatively and quantitatively using variational calculus and direct numerical solution. It is seen that the windows of stability are much smaller for a cigar shaped condensate than for a pancake shaped one, which is consistent with the findings of recent experiments.Comment: 23 pages, 11 figure

Shuttle Ku-band and S-band communications implementations study

The interfaces between the Ku-band system and the TDRSS, between the S-band system and the TDRSS, GSTDN and SGLS networks, and between the S-band payload communication equipment and the other Orbiter avionic equipment were investigated. The principal activities reported are: (1) performance analysis of the payload narrowband bent-pipe through the Ku-band communication system; (2) performance evaluation of the TDRSS user constraints placed on the S-band and Ku-band communication systems; (3) assessment of the shuttle-unique S-band TDRSS ground station false lock susceptibility; (4) development of procedure to make S-band antenna measurements during orbital flight; (5) development of procedure to make RFI measurements during orbital flight to assess the performance degradation to the TDRSS S-band communication link; and (6) analysis of the payload interface integration problem areas

Pair Correlations, Short Range Order and Dispersive Excitations in the Quasi-Kagome Quantum Magnet Volborthite

We present spatial and dynamic information on the s=1/2 distorted kagome antiferromagnet volborthite, Cu3V2O7(OD)2.2D2O, obtained by polarized and inelastic neutron scattering. The instantaneous structure factor, S(Q), is dominated by nearest neighbor pair correlations, with short range order at wave vectors Q1=0.65(3) {\AA}^-1 and Q2=1.15(5) {\AA}^-1 emerging below 5 K. The excitation spectrum, S(Q,{\omega}), reveals two steep branches dispersing from Q1 and Q2, and a flat mode at {\omega}=5.0(2) meV. The results allow us to identify the cross-over at T*=1 K in 51V NMR and specific heat measurements as the build-up of correlations at Q_1. We compare our data to theoretical models proposed for volborthite, and demonstrate that the excitation spectrum can be explained by spin-wave-like excitations with anisotropic exchange parameters, as also suggested by recent local density calculations.Comment: Rewritten article resubmitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. 021

Constraining two climate field reconstruction methodologies over the North Atlantic realm using pseudo-proxy experiments

This study presents pseudo-proxy experiments to quantify the reconstruction skill of two climate field reconstruction methodologies for a marine proxy network subject to age uncertainties. The BARCAST methodology (Bayesian Algorithm for Reconstructing Climate Anomalies in Space and Time) is tested for sea surface temperature (SST) reconstruction for the first time over the northern North Atlantic region, and compared with a classic analogue reconstruction methodology. The reconstruction experiments are performed at annual and decadal resolution. We implement chronological uncertainties inherent to marine proxies as a novelty, using a simulated age-model ensemble covering the past millennium. Our experiments comprise different scenarios for the input data network, with the noise levels added to the target variable extending from ideal to realistic. Results show that both methodologies are able to reconstruct the Summer mean SST skillfully when the proxy network is considered absolutely dated, but the skill of the analogue method is superior to BARCAST. Only the analogue method provides skillful correlations with the true target variable in the case of a realistic noisy and age-uncertain proxy network. The spatiotemporal properties of the input target data are partly contrasting with the BARCAST model formulations, resulting in an inferior reconstruction ensemble that is similar to a white-noise stochastic process in time. The analogue method is also successful in reconstructing decadal temperatures, while BARCAST fails. The results contribute to constraining uncertainties in CFR for ocean dynamics which are highly important for climate across the globe